22 April 2007

Regency Ward Elections - 3rd May 2007

Regency is the most marginal ward in the Brighton & Hove council elections.

Just 40 votes separated Labour, the Greens and the Lib Dems at the last election in this ward in 2003. Regency Labour councillor Roy Pennington was elected by just 5 votes. So if this is your first time for voting you picked a good time and place. It really is worth voting here.

Roy Pennington is the only councillor to hold regular monthly surgeries in the ward (at St Mary Magdalens Community Centre at 55 Upper North St, second Monday of every month 6-7pm) and he is well known by residents, he regularly attends residents meetings (the Lib Dem councillor has been a ghost around here and has now decided to stand in Rottingdean Coastal where the Tories have a 2300 majority and the Lib Dems come a poor third with no chance of winning- obviously she lost interest in being a councillor). Dan Yates is the Labour candidate standing with Cllr Roy.

On Brighton and Hove council, Labour have 23 councillors, the Tories 19 (would be 20 but one of their councillors had to resign over anti-gay remarks), Greens have 6, the Lib Dems 3 and there are 2 ex-Tories now Independent. Only Labour are in a position to stop the Tories.

Since Labour have been running the council;

We have taken waste collection in-house, introduced wheelie bins and doorstep recycling with now over 30% of domestic waste being recycled (one of the highest in the country). The council won 3 green apple awards this year from the Green Organisation for disposing of waste in an ecological way.

The city council general satisfaction survey of 1835 residents showed;

68% of residents satisfied with doorstep recycling (up 18% since 03/04)71% satisfied with libraries (up 17% since 03/04)73% believes the council treats all types of people fairly67% believe the council is working to make the city cleaner and greener.81% satisfaction with bus services and 78% with transport information (compared to national averages of 63% and 54% respectively).

Since April 2006, thanks to local and central Government funding, bus travel for senior citizens and people with defined disabilities has been free with Brighton & Hove. For thousands of young people using our Bus ID scheme, fares are as low as 10p. Other initiatives to encourage people onto buses include a multi-million pound fleet investment programme, which sees Brighton & Hove invest on average £3million each year in new state-of-the-art low floor, low emission buses. Brighton & Hove’s fleet is now made up of over 70% low-floor, low-emission buses.

The city council has invested over £7million in bus priority measures including bus lanes and accessible bus stops. Buses now have priority on five kilometres of central Brighton roads and 'METRO' routes have simplified bus use in the city and improved frequency. A joint investment of £1.4million by the council and Brighton & Hove has introduced a state-of-the-art satellite vehicle location system on every bus and real time information on bus location system at city centre bus stops.

Brighton and Hove is one of the few cities in the UK where bus use is growing; and it has done so consistently for the last 12 years. Last year the number of people who used Brighton & Hove buses once again increased by over 1 million and they now carry almost 40 million bus journeys in a year.

The volume of traffic has been reduced in the centre (37% do not own cars in the city - the highest outside of London). We are committed to reducing traffic even more. The Tories want to build more city centre car parks (like the one under Regency Square). This would only increase congestion, pollution and discourage bus and particularly cycle use. Regency ward would be the worst hit. The biggest single factor that puts people off cycling is high volumes of traffic.

Brighton is one of five nationally selected ‘cycling demonstration towns’, chosen to lead the way in promoting cycling as a popular, safe, and healthy way to get around.

"Regular cycling halves the chances of suffering from heart disease, the biggest cause of death in Britain. (TfL) "

West Brighton & Hove has been selected from 30 authorities to receive an annual grant of £500,000 over the next three years to continue to encourage cycling in the city. The city council will match this funding from Cycling England each year, totalling a £3 million investment in cycling over the next three years. As a Cycle Demonstration Town the council is running a personalised travel planning project, in which local residents are contacted to discuss their best travel options. A new Hove to Hangleton cycle route is being developed, and many new cycle advanced stop lines are being put in place. We are dedicated to promoting healthy and environmentally friendly travel like cycling. Cycle lanes are provided across the city, including along the seafront, Victoria Gardens and Lewes Road and there are many bike parking facilities sited conveniently throughout the city.

We have opened the new central Jubilee Library revitalising a site left derelict for over 30 years. If elected we will open it on Sundays for the first time.

We are the only party in Brighton and Hove to support the stadium at Falmer, the Lib Dems have took their opposition to the courts, the Greens cannot make up their minds and the Tories don't like to talk about it.

The Tories are also committed to making cuts in vital social services, we are expanding intermediate care places to keep hospital stays to a minimum and we are committed to maintaining and improving services.

Also despite what you might read in the press (unfortunately the Tories are spending a lot of money campaigning around here), crime has tumbled, burglaries down 20%, car crime down 16% and even alcohol related crime has fallen since 2003. Apparently alcohol consumption is down 2% since the new licensing laws, not something you would have guessed from reading the headlines.